Den preferences and denning behaviour in urban stone martens (Martes foina)

Abstract

Stone martens (Martes foina) occur in urban environments in many parts of continental Europe, where they cause a nuisance by denning in inhabited houses. We radio tracked 13 stone martens (10 females, 3 males) in two towns in southern Luxembourg during a 2-year period, in order to investigate den preferences and patterns of den use. We predicted that urban martens would make more use of buildings and less use of natural den sites than do their rural counterparts. All martens used multiple den sites but use was concentrated on a subset of these, between which individuals shifted frequently. Denning was almost exclusively in buildings (97.1%), with use of inhabited buildings being the highest (41.9%) recorded to date for this species. Inhabited buildings were used more extensively in winter, presumably because they were warmer and better insulated. We conclude that stone martens can successfully adapt their denning behaviour to an urban environment and that they use anthropogenic den sites more often than do most other mesocarnivore urban adapters.

Adaptation to cold and predation—shelter use by invasive raccoon dogs Nyctereutes procyonoides in Białowieża Primeval Forest (Poland)

“…They provide refuge against predators and protection against harsh climatic conditions (Buskirk 1984;Zalewski 1997a). Their characteristics, use, and distribution have been the subject of numerous studies (e.g., Magoun and Copeland 1998;Kowalczyk et al 2000Kowalczyk et al , 2004Zalewski 1997b;Cantú-Salazar et al 2009;Herr et al 2010).…”

Predictable features attract urban coyotes to residential yards

“…Diseased coyotes were also more likely to seek out anthropogenic shelter than healthy coyotes. Although many urban‐adapted mammals use houses as bedding and den sites (e.g., raccoons [ Procyon lotor ], Gross et al ; brushtail possums [ Trichosurus vulpecula ], Statham and Statham ; and stone martens, Herr et al ), we found that the use of shelter under buildings was dependent on coyote condition. Coyotes with mange were much more likely to bed under houses than healthy coyotes, perhaps to avoid the energetic costs of low temperatures because they suffered from poor coat quality and potentially compromised thermoregulation.…”

“…However, this tendency is highly variable among species (Bateman and Fleming ) and individuals (Knopff et al ). Encounters with people and subsequent management action were more likely for brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) that became highly habituated to human infrastructure, such as buildings (Rauer et al , Elfström et al ), which can also be used as den sites by stone marten ( Martes foina ; Herr et al ) and a variety of urban carnivores (Bateman and Fleming , Lowry et al ). Many carnivore species can also make use of anthropogenic food (Contesse et al , Newsome et al ), and the development of food‐conditioned animals who associate people with food usually results in conflict (Herrero , McCarthy and Seavoy ).…”

Urban Wildlife Behavior

“…For example, over 50 % of raccoon dens occur in human-made structures (Hoffmann and Gottschang 1977;O'Donnell and DeNicola 2006), such as attics, chimneys, garages, sheds, ventilation ducts, furniture (Adams and Lindsey 2010), and sewers (Hoffmann and Gottschang 1977). Other mammals that use human-made structures are striped field mice ( Apodemus agrarius) (Gliwicz et al 1994), fox squirrels ( Sciurus niger) (McCleery et al 2007), stone martens ( Martes foina) (Herr et al 2010), skunks ( Mephitis spp.) (Rosatte et al 2010), and red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes), which appear to be less tolerant of human presence and den mainly in abandoned structures .…”